Sunday, January 14, 2007

Money Money Money

I got a letter in the mail from my third choice law school yesterday offering me a $15,000 a year merit award. It is automatically renewable for three years, so I don't have to worry about losing it if I'm not able to maintain a certain GPA. Which is nice, but it is also not a free ride, by any means, considering tuition at the school is approximately $37,000. Still, it's nice to know that they like me enough to offer me one of their few merit awards, and it would certainly decrease the amount of loans I would have to take out.

In other money news, I am currently waiting for W-2s to arrive so I can do my taxes, so that I can fill out financial aid forms. Why must everyone wait to the last minute to send out tax forms? Also, my parents have informed me that they will probably not have their taxes done before April, so I am going to have to figure out whether the schools I have applied to will accept their 2005 taxes or estimates of 2006 or what. Also my parents have a relatively large chunk of money sitting in the bank from an inheritance they received from my grandfather, so I hope that is not going to screw me on financial aid.

I am kind of embarassed to have to ask my parents for their financial information because I don't feel like that is any of my business -- my going to law school has nothing to do with them and I certainly wouldn't expect them to contribute anything towards it. So, while I kind of understand the rationale behind asking for everybody's parent's information no matter what, it is still annoying.

2 comments:

The Frugal Law Student said...

Saramel- Congrats on the scholarship! It's a nice feeling to "make" $15,000 just for taking a 4 hour test (LSAT) and doing well in undergad.

Are you sure you still need to put your parents financial info down? If I remember correctly, after a certain age or getting married, you become an independent and are no longer required to report your parents financial info. I could be wrong though. I just don't remember putting my parents info in my financial aid application after I got married.

saramel said...

FLS, thanks! Yes, I am sure that I need to include my parents financial info on the financial aid applications for the schools I am applying to. Not on the FAFSA, but on the school's applications. They even mentioned it at the admitted students event I went to. They all say, we have limited funds and we want to distribute them as fairly as possible, so we look at everybody's parents information regardless of dependancy status, age or marital status.